


A Wolf Among the Stars

by EmiWanKenobi



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Bed time stories, Family, M/M, Seriously this is all fluff, The fluffiest fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, fenhawke - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6068281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmiWanKenobi/pseuds/EmiWanKenobi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“See those stars? They’re part of the constellation called Fenrir. There are a lot of stories about those stars, very boring ones about old gods that everyone likes to tell for some silly reason. But the true story is much more exciting. You see there was once a special wolf, with hair as white as clouds..."</p><p>Alexander tells his nephew a bedtime story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wolf Among the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, Xander Vael belongs to my dear friend Mingamelon. <3
> 
> Second, there's nothing but sheer, undiluted fluff of the fluffiest kind ahead, so consider yourselves warned! ;)

_Called "White Wolf" in common parlance, Fenrir has always been considered an oddity among scholars, primarily because wolves have no special place within ancient Tevinter folklore. To many, this represents the strongest argument that the Imperium deliberately supplanted older elven constellation names—in the case of Fenrir, an alignment with the elven trickster god, Fen'Harel, would be logical. Others claim a much older Neromenian tale of **a wolf escaping hunters by fleeing into the sky** exists, but the legend's veracity has never been proved._

_—From A Study of Thedosian Astronomy by Sister Oran Petrarchius_

* * *

 

“Tell me another story, uncle!”

Alex chuckled as he looked at the messy haired boy currently bouncing on his bed, looking far too awake for the late hour. This was getting a little out of hand, he thought, although he didn’t really have it in him to mind.  


“Another? I’ve already told you two, aren’t you ready to get some sleep?” he asked.  


“No, uncle. Please tell me another. Just _one_ more?”  


Alex and Fenris had only been back in Starkhaven for two days now, and tonight was the first chance he’d had to spend time with his nephew. Xander ought to have been in bed over an hour ago, but the time had gotten away from them, as it usually did. Now Xander was still as awake as ever, while Alex was still feeling the week of hard travel it had taken them to get here.

"It’s late, Xander, I really think we ought to…” But it was no use. Xander looked so disappointed that there was no way Alex could say no. With a groan he flopped down across the foot of the bed. “Your mother is going to be very cross with me in the morning,” he said, surrendering to the pleading. Xander lit up immediately, all traces of being upset vanishing so quickly that it made Alex doubt he had ever truly been upset to begin with. “Brat,” he fondly teased, ruffling the boy’s hair before sitting up.  


“Just one more,” he said, as stern as he could make himself be. When Xander nodded his understanding he hummed. “Alright, let’s see…” He tossed about for a moment for a good story, one that wouldn’t rile Xander up with adventure, nor bore him to tears. A glance out the window made him smile, and with a twinkle in his eyes and motioned for Xander to settle in his lap.

“See those stars?” he asked, pointing to the night sky, clearly visible from where they sat through the wide window. When Xander nodded he dropped his hand. “They’re part of the constellation called Fenrir. There are a lot of stories about those stars, very boring ones about old gods that everyone likes to tell for some silly reason. But the true story is much more exciting. An old adventurer told it to me once, while I was traveling. You see there was once a special wolf, with hair as white as clouds, and he was strong—stronger than any other wolf who ever lived. When he was still just a young wolf, wild and bold and happy, bad men came and caught him, chaining him and taking him away to a horrible city. They wanted to keep him like a pet, you see.

“But Fenrir, he was a free thing. He didn’t like to be kept caged up and chained up, just like your Pup doesn’t like when he has to stay in his pen. So one night, Fenrir ran away from the terrible city. He ran and he ran until he was tired, until he came to a nice place. It was damp, and soggy, and warm, and while he stayed there Fenrir made friends with a village of kind, strange people who lived in houses hidden in fog.

“But while he wanted to Fenrir couldn't stay with the fog people, because the bad men from the terrible city had followed him. He had to keep running, and running, until it felt like he would never be able to stop. And then one night, the bad men had him cornered. They came with a chain to put on him to take him back to the city, but Fenrir didn’t want to go. He would have done anything to never, ever go back. The bad men backed him right up to the edge of a very high wall, and there was only one thing Fenrir could do…”

"What?” Xander asked, his eyes huge again. He clutched his stuffed mabari to his chest, so anxious that Alex hastened to finish.

"He jumped. Fenrir turned and leapt off the wall, and he thought he would fall, but he didn’t. He had jumped so high, so eager to escape, that he landed right in the middle of the night sky.” Alex shifted on the bed, and nodded towards the window again. “That’s why you can see him there, right now. He sits in the sky and howls every night, laughing at the bad men for thinking they could ever keep him.”  


Relieved by the happy ending Xander relaxed, relief and happiness bright in his eyes. He tilted his head back to look up at his uncle. “Is that really true, Uncle Alex?”

"I think it is,” Alex answered, nodding seriously. “And now I also think it’s time for you to be in bed, Xander. Come on,” he nudged the boy from his lap. “Under the covers.”  


The next few minutes were a bustle of getting the boy in bed, and tucking him in until he was surrounded by pillows and blankets and toys. Alex bent low to kiss the top of his head, before blowing out the lamp.  


He had made it half a step from the bed before Xander shifted under the blankets, peeking up at him.

“Uncle Alex?”

“Hm?” Alex looked back at him.  


"Is Fenrir happy in the sky?”

Alex smiled, soft and fond. “Very,” he answered. “He runs around between all the other stars, and whenever there are bad men nearby, he howls to frighten them away, and to keep others safe.”

“Good.” Xander nodded, satisfied, and burrowed beneath his blankets again. As he walked away Alex could hear him mumbling to his toys, regaling them all with the story all over again.

Alex left the room after that, latching the door quietly behind him. He nearly leapt out of his skin when he turned around to find a figure beside him in the hall. Slapping his hand to his chest he swore under his breath. “Maker, Fenris,” he blurted. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.” Fenris stood with his arms crossed. He was clearly amused by having caught Alex by surprise, his smile smug. “I’ve been waiting here for you to finish with Xander.”

"If you wanted to hear a bedtime story you could have come in,” Alex told him. Though now that he realized that Fenris must have overheard at least a part of the tale, he began to feel sheepish.

“I was afraid you might change the story if you knew I was listening,” Fenris said. “It was well told. Sentimental, romantic. Varric would be proud, it was nearly worthy of one of his novels.”

Alex flushed and rubbed his neck. ”Oh, stop. And don’t you _dare_ tell him about this.”  


If Fenris’s smirk was anything to go by he was entirely unimpressed by the implied threat. Alex bit back a groan with the realization that he would might never live this down. Even if Varric never heard about it, he was quite certain it was a story Fenris would use to tease him.  


The next several minutes saw the pair of them making their way to their room, stripping out of their clothes and washing up. Ghost had already taken up residence on the large bed, and merely whined at any attempts to remove him to the floor. Ah well, Alex supposed it was big enough for all three of them.

Alex had just settled against the headboard when Fenris straddled across him, settling on his lap. After a soft, stolen kiss the elf leaned back. “So tell me,” he began. He draped his arms around Alex’s neck and leaned in so that their foreheads touched. “What else happened to this Fenrir after he escaped to the stars?”

With a low chuckle Alex put his arms around Fenris’s waist, pulling him close. After another kiss he answered. “Somewhere along the way he met a hawk,” he said. “And after a great deal of pining and struggling and learning, they fell in love.”  


“A wolf and a hawk.” Fenris voice was warm husk, and his eyes were filled with enough knowing and feeling that it made Alex shiver. “An unlikely match,” he went on.  


“I’m sure there have been stranger matches,” Alex replied. He pulled Fenris in for another kiss then, this one slower and deeper than the last, and one they were both reluctant to pull back from. 

“And was this hawk happy with this wolf?” Fenris asked when they came apart again. For the most part he was teasing, but there was a genuine curiosity in deep in his eyes.

Alex smiled, and meant every bit of it when he squeezed Fenris close and answered, “Very.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos are cupcakes and comments are love!


End file.
